PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for encoding and decoding video digital data using macroblocks that are larger than macroblocks prescribed by video encoding and decoding standards.SOLUTION: In a decoding method, a maximum size and a minimum size of blocks are decoded; it is determined that a current block has a starting size equal to the maximum size; the current block is partitioned to acquire a plurality of sub-blocks for the current block; when the size of a sub-block is equal to the minimum size, it is determined that the sub-block does not further include a sub-partition having been separately encoded; an encoding mode including one of an I-mode, a P-mode, and a B-mode is encoded; and the sub-block is decoded according to the encoding mode without further partitioning the sub-block, on the basis of the determination that the block does not further include a sub-partition having been separately encoded.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 5
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